Climate Policy Watch

This page is designed to keep you updated on the latest national policies to reduce greenhouse gases, drawing from all the Inside EPA family of publications and allowing you access to all this coverage regardless of your site-license restrictions.

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This page is designed to keep you updated on the latest national policies to reduce greenhouse gases, drawing from all the Inside EPA family of publications and allowing you access to all this coverage regardless of your site-license restrictions.

Ewire: Experts see ‘no quick way’ for Biden EPA to undo Trump rules

Several legal experts expect lengthy regulatory and legal hurdles for the Biden administration as it tries to reverse the Trump administration’s deregulatory agenda, with incoming EPA officials having to decide how to address pending lawsuits over policy rollbacks while identifying the best way to undo rules they oppose. “The next administration will also likely find there’s no quick way to roll back its predecessor’s legacy,” argued Justin Schwab, who served as EPA’s deputy general counsel from 2017 to 2019, according...

CEQ Issues Unusual Opposition To Amicus Filings In NEPA Rule Suit

The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) is filing an unusual objection to amicus briefs backing challengers to its sweeping National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementing rule, urging a district court not to accept the briefs from former CEQ officials, Democratic lawmakers and law professors. Their motions to the court to accept the amicus filings “should be denied because they are untimely, raise issues not pursued by Plaintiffs in their motion for summary judgment, and violate principles of...

Final FY21 Spending Deal Includes Boost For Numerous EPA Programs

Lawmakers are releasing a final fiscal year 2021 spending deal that would provide EPA with an almost 2 percent funding boost above current levels, while retaining several policy riders from prior years but not an array of new restrictions that House Democrats had proposed. The appropriations deal, unveiled Dec. 21 , is part of a broader end-of-year agreement that also includes numerous authorizations for EPA and other federal agencies -- including an EPA-implemented phase down of the potent greenhouse gas...

Only Three States, D.C. Agree To Launch Transport Cap & Trade Program

Three states and the District of Columbia are the only jurisdictions that are formally committing to launch the Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI), the nation’s first regional cap-and-trade program to cut transportation fuel greenhouse gases, with the forthcoming program slated to cut emissions 26 percent between 2022 and 2032. The governors of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut and the mayor of D.C. Dec. 21 signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) committing to join the program. Seven other states that signed the...

GOP senator vows ‘brawl’ over Biden’s environment nominees

One Republican energy-state senator is promising a “bit of a brawl” over the confirmation of President-elect Joe Biden’s environment nominees, criticizing several prior decisions by EPA Administrator-designate Michael Regan and Interior Secretary-designate Deb Haaland. “We will be in a bit of a brawl,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) during a Dec. 18 appearance on Fox Business . “We’re going to have to stand our ground and fight the fight.” Cramer raised questions about Regan, citing his rejection of a proposed...

Congress Poised To Enact Broad EPA Program Establishing HFC Limits

Capitol Hill lawmakers are unveiling a long-awaited deal directing EPA to sharply curtail the production and use of potent greenhouse gases known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFC), with final enactment of the measure virtually assured given that it is part of a broader year-end spending deal between the GOP and Democrats. The agreement released Dec. 21 would end the years-long delay of action on HFCs by the Trump EPA, and potentially allow the incoming Biden administration to accelerate action on the climate...

Legislative Text

Legislative Summary


OMB approves final EPA aircraft greenhouse gas rule

The White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) has completed its mandatory pre-publication review of EPA’s final rule setting first-time greenhouse gas limits on U.S.-made aircraft, clearing the path for the agency to publish the regulation that environmentalists have criticized for failing to require significant GHG reductions. OMB approved the rule on Dec. 18 after receiving it for review from EPA on Dec. 2, a very quick process given that the typical goal for White House interagency review is...

Report says carbon tax more cost-effective than GHG rules

A consulting firm in a new report says the carbon tax plan offered by the Climate Leadership Council (CLC), whose members include Treasury Secretary-designate Janet Yellen, is a more cost-effective approach to achieve major greenhouse gas cuts than regulations imposed by EPA or other agencies. Specifically, the report by NERA Economic Consulting, commissioned by CLC, examines the group’s legislative proposal for a carbon dividends plan (CDP), compared with various regulatory options offered as alternatives to carbon pricing programs. It finds...

In Public Debut As EPA Pick, Regan Mixes Pitch To EJ, Industry & States

In his first public remarks since being chosen as President-elect Joe Biden’s pick to head EPA, Michael Regan is pledging to move quickly to cooperate with states and address environmental justice – while also reaching out to industry as partners in developing environmental solutions. The pledge came Dec. 19 at a formal announcement of Biden’s “climate team” in Wilmington, DE, giving the president-elect and his environment-focused Cabinet nominees a chance to tout commitments to act on climate change and other...

Progressive group floats five areas for Regan EPA ‘rebuild’

The Center for Progressive Reform (CPR) is urging the Biden EPA to take initial steps in five areas to “rebuild the agency,” and also framing the expected nomination of Michael Regan -- who strengthened North Carolina’s environment program -- as a fresh opportunity to focus on environmental justice. “The Biden administration and Regan must rebuild the agency, revoke [the Trump administration’s] damaging policies and focus EPA on proactive enforcement,” says a new CPR blog post co-written by University of Houston...

EPA, Oil Industry Fight Biofuel Groups’ Push To Restore 2016 RFS Target

EPA and oil industry groups are fighting biofuel producers’ push for a federal appeals court to enforce its remand of Obama EPA biofuel blending mandates for 2016 and boost ethanol volumes under the renewable fuel standard (RFS), arguing that the pro-ethanol groups cannot force the court to order such a hike in biofuels blending. In its Dec. 17 response brief opposing biofuels groups’ effort in Americans for Clean Energy (ACE) v. EPA , the agency tells the U.S. Court of...

EPA Brief

API Brief

AFPM Brief


Graham may seek Senate vote on Paris Agreement

Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) is suggesting he may seek a Senate vote this year to gauge support for President-elect Joe Biden’s plan to re-enter the United Nations’ Paris Agreement to address climate change, a strategy conservative groups support as undermining international climate mitigation efforts. “The Senate should be on record in support or opposition of any decision to re-enter Paris Climate Accord,” Graham said in a Dec. 16 tweet . “As currently drafted, the Accord is a big win for...

Baltimore Urges High Court To Uphold 4th Circuit Climate Nuisance Ruling

Baltimore is urging the Supreme Court to uphold an appellate court decision that the city’s climate change nuisance case against the oil industry can proceed in state court rather than the industry’s preferred venue of federal court -- a key procedural issue that will affect the fate of a raft of similar cases across the country. Meanwhile, acting Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall is urging the high court to allow the federal government an opportunity to speak on industry’s behalf during...

Regan EPA Pick Signals Biden Attempt To Balance EJ, Industry Demands

President-elect Joe Biden’s expected selection of North Carolina environment chief Michael Regan as the next EPA administrator is an apparent attempt to balance competing demands from environmental justice (EJ) groups and industry, with observers also suggesting his state experience is in line with prior agency chiefs. Biden’s decision to pick Regan , first reported Dec. 17 by the Washington Post , is prompting early praise from multiple environmental groups, even though the run-up to the announcement featured a rare public...

Biden Selects North Carolina DEQ Chief Regan For EPA Administrator

Update: Shortly after this story was published, the Washington Post also reported the President-elect Joe Biden will nominate Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM) to be his Interior secretary, where she would also play a major role in Biden’s climate goals, particularly regarding energy projects on federal land. If confirmed, Haaland would be the first Native American to lead the Interior Department, which also has significant interaction with tribes. Inside EPA earlier reported on a statement from House Speaker Nancy...

Major report sees ‘massive’ needs to meet 2050 climate goals

A major research project led by Princeton University is underscoring the need for a “massive, nationwide effort” to reach the long-term climate target of achieving net-zero carbon emissions across the economy by mid-century, including a significant near-term infrastructure build-out. The Dec. 15 study , “Net-Zero America,” outlines five broad technological pathways to achieve the net-zero economy goal, which the incoming Biden administration has embraced along with a suite of nearer-term steps to cut greenhouse gases from various sectors. The new...

Oil & gas sector introduces voluntary program to limit flaring

An oil and gas sector coalition is announcing a voluntary program to reduce flaring, or burning of excess gases, weeks before the arrival of the incoming Biden administration that is expected to take a tougher line on energy companies’ venting and flaring of climate-warming air pollutants. The coalition, called the Environmental Partnership, describes itself as a group of more than 80 members including “large and small operators in every major U.S. oil and gas basin committed to reducing emissions across...

Amid Continued Jockeying, Delay In Biden EPA Pick Suggests Fluid Dynamic

President-elect Joe Biden’s delay in announcing his choice for EPA administrator -- even as he is settling on his picks for other top energy and environment roles -- suggests that the decision remains highly fluid and that a formal announcement may not be imminent. Reports in recent days have suggested that former front-runner Mary Nichols, California’s top air regulator, has been replaced as the most likely candidate by North Carolina environment chief Michael Regan. Nichols, who has been chairwoman of...

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